إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
“Truly, to Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return.” — Qur'an 2:156
For many years, our volunteers have provided burial services to the Muslim community in Lancaster, run on a not-for-profit basis by the local mosques. If someone close to you has died, we are here to help and guide you through every step, including the paperwork.
Call any of the volunteers below. They will support you from the start.
Email: info@lancastermuslimburialservices.org
We only use the details you share with us to help arrange the burial. See our privacy notice.
These steps help the burial take place as quickly as possible.
Ask the hospital or your GP for the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) straight away. Our volunteers can only move on to the other permissions once the certificate has been given to the family.
Ask for out-of-hours contact details for the doctor who signs the MCCD. If there is a mistake on it, it can then be corrected quickly and delays kept to a minimum.
As soon as the MCCD has been issued, the family will be given a dedicated volunteer, who will start liaising with the Registrar for you.
Fill in the burial request form and pass the information to a volunteer by email or by hand.
Download the burial request form (PDF)Where the cause of death is clear, the coroner issues a certificate confirming that no post-mortem is required, and burial arrangements can go ahead.
The law requires every death to be certified and registered. We have a special dispensation to register the death on the first working day after the funeral, so please book an appointment with the local registration office for births, marriages and deaths without delay.
Some offices offer urgent appointments for religious reasons. Make sure you ask which documents to bring with you.
Occasionally a doctor issues an MCCD but still needs the coroner to be involved. When this happens, a delay is likely.
With the family's permission, our volunteers will discuss the process with the coroner's office and try to obtain a funeral certificate as quickly as possible.
In almost all cases we do not have an autopsy, as bodily intrusion violates the sanctity of keeping the human body complete.
A scan can be arranged in Preston as an alternative to an autopsy, and transport can be arranged if needed.
We have the facilities and dedicated volunteers to provide a service for both men and women in a manner that complies with the Sharīʿah, and we will help with obtaining certificates by liaising with the relevant departments.
Islamic law and tradition give a Muslim's funeral profound religious significance. In every respect it should express the dignity, sanctity and modesty of a solemn religious service.
It is very important to complete each stage as quickly as possible. The blessings and forgiveness for the deceased gained by following the command of the Prophet ﷺ are worth more than delaying the funeral prayer, even if more people might attend.
The Sharīʿah has also prohibited delaying the burial because family or friends cannot arrive quickly.
“Make haste at a funeral; if the dead person was good, it is a good state to which you are sending him on; but if he was otherwise it is an evil of which you are ridding yourselves.”
Lancaster Muslim Burial Services is run on a not-for-profit basis by volunteers from the local mosques.
